WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

As scientific knowledge has increased over time, there have been many advances in the field of medicine and the development of treatments and procedures used to address health issues. If you, like most people, have ever been to the doctor you know in general how illness is diagnosed and treated. Your basic body functions are checked for changes in temperature, blood pressure, changes in appearance of tissues, and any injuries are examined.

If the cause of illness isn’t immediately obvious, such as with feeling overly tired, further tests are ordered to investigate the source of the illness. Often an initial diagnosis is offered with a prescribed treatment, such as medication, and you are sent home to either follow the treatment or await additional test results to determine future treatment. If the illness is severe, or poses a danger to your health, you might be hospitalized for treatment and care to support your bodily functions.

To find out more about how diseases are diagnosed, investigated, and treated, click on the link below to access the Mayo Clinic Health Care site and be sure to explore the “RESEARCH” tab to find out what new treatments are being discovered:

As this site shows us, there are many successful scientific discoveries that lead to cures and treatments for disease. But many become concerned when people who have only a faithful perspective deny the important discoveries of science. There are many examples of faith communities with rigid belief systems whose members refuse medical treatment that result in death.

Click on the link below to read a story in the New York Times about choosing faith over medicine:

In this article we can see that when a group or individual claims one perspective or way of understanding a particular issue, or in this case interpretation of scripture, it becomes a dangerous ideology.

While the scientific practice of medicine has made many advances in the treatment and cure of illness and disease, there are many people who become concerned when wellness is approached from only a scientific perspective.

Click on the link below to read about the perspective that considers the importance of incorporating spirituality into medical treatment from the University of Maryland Medical Center:

Results from several studies indicate that people with strong religious and spiritual beliefs heal faster from surgery, are less anxious and depressed, have lower blood pressure, and cope better with chronic illnesses such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and spinal cord injury. One clinical study at Duke University found that people who attend regular religious services tend to have better immune function. In another clinical study of 232 older adults undergoing heart surgery, those who were religious were three times less likely to die within six months after surgery that those who were not. Not one of the 37 people in this study who described themselves as deeply religious died. Of course, the studies are not comprehensive, and many people find help in spiritual resources for numbers conditions.

​There are many examples of spirituality and faith providing an important aspect of treatment for illness, and for many, when this perspective is ignored it can result in increased pain and suffering for a patient.

So you have heard a lot about the scientific and religious perspectives of prayer and faith and how they might or might not affect the physical body. There are also many other ways to think about how the two may or may not work together. It can be very confusing and very hard to combine ways of thinking about the two perspectives. Click on the next tab, or the button below, and we will look at ways to consider both perspectives at the same time.